[Here is the sixth edition of the Tale of Redbird. My, we're getting along, aren't we! Elves, horses, and short girls ill-equipped for a life of adventure- this is a subject near and dear to my heart and my creativity shows no sign of being exhausted yet. As always, link on the right for earlier posts, scroll down, etc. etc..
On an unrelated and therefore brief note, I have finished reading 'Jane Eyre', 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Agnes Grey'. All three were very good, and the Bronte sisters owe me the lost time of an entire day in which I did absolutely no work but read their books. Anne Bronte's writing seems the most undeveloped of the three to me, but I hear she's written another book which is "a literary masterpiece", so I shall reserve judgement till I've read that. My favourite was definitely 'Wuthering Heights'. The violence of the feelings of Heathcliff and Cathy are beautifully and poetically portrayed by Emily Bronte, even if one occasionally shudders at their fiendishness. Heathcliff seems really too evil to be human, but I am forced for once to agree with the character of Bella Swann from 'Twilight', in saying that his love for Cathy is his (only) redeeming quality. The story had a very satisfactory conclusion, and escapes the moral tone that is somewhat irritatingly present in 'Agnes Grey'. With that, I conclude my valuable and edifying remarks on the Bronte sisters- now, get back to Redbird! Enjoy!]
Faelen was truly a joy and a wonder to behold. The elven city was the lovely offspring of the elves' great desire for beauty, and their unerring craftsmanship and skill. It had been built to house immortals- and to Redbird's awed eyes it seemed as though those towering pillars and altars of stone would last for eternity, even after the very mountain on which it stood turned to dust.
Everywhere she turned, pleasing forms met her eye; graceful columns of alabaster and pearl rising from cool, stone floors to high, arching ceilings like slim white trees expanding gracefully, unfurling like flowers, to form the canopy of some dim, distant forest and the pensive, lovely faces and figures of the elves as they went about their business. Now and then phrases of a haunting melody blown by some elvish piper deep in the city, or the clear, fluid notes of a harp would fall on her ears, and she would marvel anew at the grace and beauty with which the elves surrounded themselves.
She met a few curious looks, as was to be expected, but the elves indulged in none of the excited exclamations, finger-pointings or near hysteria that the occupants of the Hock displayed at the presence of a stranger in their midst. Redbird caught the eye of one elf- a beautiful female with long fair hair and smiled nervously. The elf made no attempt to smile back but continued to stare straight at Redbird with neither malice nor goodwill in her glance.
To Redbird's surprise, she could distinguish no building that she could state with certainty was the abode of the ruler of Faelen. All the tenements in the city were of the same, noble proportions, and none could be said to be fairer than the other.
"We will continue on foot from here," said Estwyn, breaking into Redbird's surmises.
"Why?" asked Redbird, dismounting as he did.
Estwyn gave her a look that seemed to say that although he had been disappointed by her foolishness many times previously, he had not known the extents of her ignorance till then.
"Surely you do not expect the horse to accompany us into the mountain?" he said, to her continuing bafflement.
Snowy-Mountain was led away by one of the many elves calmly going about their business in the city square, and Redbird was led, in a very similar fashion, to a wide circle of sunken ground located precisely in the center of the city, into which was set a flight of circular steps that seemed to go down endlessly into the earth without reaching any conclusion. Estwyn indicated the steps with a bow, and she began to descend them.
Within fifteen minutes her calf muscles were shrieking with protest and she quietly abhorred Estwyn for seeming so perfectly at his ease, not even showing by an acceleration of his breathing that he felt any physical strain. The stairs had been built for the longer frames of the elves, and were thus larger than was convenient for one of her size, and she had descended at least a hundred of them by that time.
A light touch on Redbird's arm told her, not a moment too soon, that her journey into the cavernous earth was over, and she rid herself of the notion that she would die before they reached their destination. It was almost completely dark in the tunnel around her, and she felt a growing claustrophobia.
"Do not step without my guidance," said Estwyn, "The path is narrow and the mountain is deep."
They walked through the unbroken darkness, and with each step Redbird's alarm mounted. She was about to abandon all pretense of bravery, curl into a ball on the floor and refuse to go any further, when Estwyn's soft voice sounded from behind her, commanding her to turn to the right and walk forward.
She did so, and was blinded momentarily by the brilliance of the scene that met her eyes. A vast cavern lay before her, as great in height and depth and breadth as any meadow or field above the ground. It was lit by what seemed, at first glance, to be the light of thousands of stars embedded in the walls and hanging in elegant lanterns from the ceiling, but which, on closer examination, proved to be some sort of crystal that burned with a pale, cold luminescence that gave an eerie, mystical glow to the subterranean city.
Before her bewildered gaze rose magnificent buildings and walkways, enormous stone courtyards and balconies, all apparently hewn out of the rock of the mountain. It was hard to believe, despite all the evidence presented to her by her reason, that they were underground.
A deputation was waiting to receive them- a group of elves of noble appearance and bearing waiting near a carved stone archway, with Lady Ariel Nayinera at its head.
"Welcome, Talya Winona," she said, and her voice rang through the great space around them like a pure note from a silver bell. "Welcome Lady Redbird, Daughter of Eleanor, Keeper of the Carrot-Patch."
"Hello again," said Redbird.
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